DJI vs. Parrot: The best drone camera

Quick, name a drone manufacturer. Chances are, the name that leapt into your mind is one of the two biggest manufacturers in the world right now – DJI or Parrot.

Since commercial drone photography is one of our most popular insurance categories, people often ask us which of each company’s latest professional quadcopter (four rotor) drones – the DJI Inspire 2 or the Parrot Bebop 2 – has the best drone camera? We’re here to help.

Parrot Bebop 2

Image credit: Parrot

First up, the Parrot Bebop 2, which is an upgraded version of Parrot’s extremely popular Bebop drone.

Constructed from CRP’s Windform GT material, a polyamide-based glass-reinforced composite material – it manages to be extremely lightweight at only 500g. There has clearly been an emphasis on making it very portable – hence the new materials over the original. But, of course, whilst still keeping the photography elements as cutting-edge and responsive as possible.

DJI Inspire 2

Their new craft is built using a magnesium and aluminium composite shell, along with carbon fibre arms to keep the weight down too. Their four rotors have been upgraded to generate 2kg of thrust per rotor – aiding its vertical take-off too.

Specs

Let’s get to the specs. While both drones have obviously been built with video and photography in mind – the Bebop 2 is nimbler than the Inspire 2, and its inner workings reflect that.

With Parrot’s full HD 1080p camera and a wide-angle 14-megapixel lens, you can take horizontal and vertical 180 ° pictures and footage, so you can get wide-ranging aerial footage. What’s more, with their handy 3-axis image stabilisation, you won’t run the risk of blurry pictures when you’re shooting at speed.

The DJI, meanwhile, boasts a 4K camera, 360° rotating gimbal and a HD video transmission system. Since the Inspire 2 is often used on professional film shoots around the world – they have also included an encoding system which allows image processing to be in 5K!

Image credit: Parrot

As for the range of motion itself, the Parrot Bebop 2 can climb vertically at a rate of 13 miles an hour, also reaching speeds of 37 mph at its top rate – meaning headwinds are now a thing of the past!

With the Inspire’s bigger body, however, naturally comes bigger motors and bigger speeds. It leaps from 0-50 mph in 5 seconds at take-off, with a maximum speed of 58 mph. Plus, its dual-battery system allows the DJI to stay airborne for 27 minutes in total, narrowly surpassing the Parrot’s 25 minutes battery life.

Price

It’s unavoidable to reach the conclusion that despite the Bebop 2 taking great strides to catch up to the Inspire 2 in the world of professional photography and film drones – there is still quite a gulf in mechanics, technology and quality between the two. However, the gulf between them that favours Parrot’s drone is price.

The starting price for a Parrot Bebop 2? £449.99

The starting price for a DJI Inspire 2? £3,059

So, which is the best professional drone camera – clearly the DJI Inspire 2’s. It’s used on huge Hollywood films all across the world for a reason, it’s the gold standard of drone photography and videos.

However, if you’re just starting out and don’t want to spend £3k+ on your first professional camera drone, don’t be fooled. Parrot have done an awful lot of work to narrow the gap, and the Bebop 2 is still a professional-grade camera drone. For less than £500, you could do an awful lot worse.

Whether you choose the DJI or the Parrot – the most crucial part of any professional drone is to protect it, camera and all!

With Insure4Drones, you can tailor your specialist drone insurance so you only pay for the cover you need. Why not get your personalised online quote today and see how affordable peace of mind can be!

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